The Minimum Wage In A Low-Wage Economy

08:38

December 06, 2013

Protestors demonstrate outside a fast food restaurant on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP/Nick Ut) — Protesters demonstrate outside a fast food restaurant on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Nick Ut/AP)

The November jobs report out today shows the jobless rate fell from 7.3 to 7 percent last month, the lowest it's been in five years, and 203,000 jobs were created — mainly in lower-wage sectors.

The federal minimum wage is currently $7.25 an hour. About 13 percent of Americans are under-employed. If you work full time for a year earning minimum wage, you come away with about $15,000, which puts the worker below the poverty line for a two-person household.

What would change if wages for those jobs went up? Peter Cappelli, a professor of management at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, joins Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson to discuss the answer.

Guest

Peter Cappelli, professor of management at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and director of the Wharton Center for Human Resources.

This segment aired on December 6, 2013.